dyke

dyke In engineering, a barrier or embankment designed to confine or regulate the flow of water. Dykes are used in reclaiming land from the sea by sedimentation (as practised in The Netherlands), and also as controls against river flooding. In geology, a dyke (dike) is an intrusion of igneous rock whose surface is different from that of the adjoining material.

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dyke

dyke put one's finger in the dyke attempt to stem the advance of something undesirable, from a story of a small Dutch boy who saved his community from flooding, by placing his finger in a hole in a dyke.